4 Stars

This was one of the best in showcasing friends evolving to lovers, hitting all the emotional stops on desire, want, longing, and the trauma war wrecks on those who’re lucky to survive.

Jase has been in love with Carey for forever, falling hard when he was the medic for Carey’s Marine contingent. They’ve been through a lot, mainly Carey losing his leg in an explosion, but also Jase’s continued guilt and PTSD from his remaining time served.

Despite different life projectories, these two remain the best of friends, sharing a rare bond forged literally in fire, and they continue to take the time to visit and reconnect. Underlying their deep friendship has always been a strong attraction that they've mostly ignored or brushed aside, basically because Carey insists he’s straight. Or is he?

Be aware this jumps back and forth in time. There’s also a lot of denial and some might not appreciate what Carey puts Jase through, as he remains adamant that his attraction to his friend could never move beyond a fleeting indulgence of lust.

However, where this excels at is how strong the bond is between Jase and Carey. Both men do hesitate about ruining the friendship but when push comes to shove, the blatant and repeated situations that showcase their undeniable hot connection to each other can no longer be ignored. Unf.

This was obviously pretty darn hot and sexy, while never failing on the varied emotional struggles these men faced and are facing. Mostly with no unnecessary angst, Jase and Carey’s win with each other was definitely wholly satisfying.

3.75 conflict(ing) ⭐ (rounded off)

This one definitely made me cry. Carey and Jase were perfect for each other but it just took Carey a little longer to figure it out. I normally don't like a lot of flashbacks but it worked here. It really did. They always had me on the edge of my seat though. My husband was in the Army for over 25 years and was deployed twice (He made it back safely) but unfortunately he had some friends who didn't and also had some come back injured. Those scenes in the book were hard to read sometime, but when Carey and Jase were together even as friends you could feel the chemistry between them. Man they were both hot when they finally took it further. I mean H.O.T hot, hehe I didn't mind reading all they went through to be together because of that HEA that I love in the books that I read. This really was a great read.

3.75 stars, review of the 2nd edition. The romance, while nice and convincing, could have used more room to breathe and I would have liked to see an epilogue as well. The ending came on too sudden. Carey's road to self discovery also felt a bit too easy. I understand his journey was a bit more complex in the first edition. I loved both the concept of Hope Ranch and the feeling of comraderie in Jase's band.

It started out good but slowly dwindled into lameness.

“The best kind of love is friendship that has caught fire.”

A beautiful sad, haunting, romantic and lovable story. Friendship that turns into love. But not in a easy way, the friendship between Jase and Carey is one that begins in the army. When Carey got injured, Jase saved him. Over the years they keep seeing each other but both feel more fore each other than only friendship. But they're also scared. Scared for admitting it. Scared for the reaction of each other. When they finally admit it, it isn't easy. Their love is perfect but Carey is scared. Scared for his feelings and scared for his love.

The way they keep fighting, keep singing, keep living is beautiful and shows their strength.

Ok. It's official, Melanie Hansen writes the best M/M military romances eveeeer.

My God, this was such an enjoyable ride.

Not as anguish as Point of Contact, thank god. I don't think I have structure enough to endure another one just yet.

Anyway, this one's focused more on the romance and it's gorgeous.

Carey and Jase are best friends. They served together in the marines until Carey gets hurt in combat and have his leg shredded by shrapnel. Jase, army paramedic at the time, is able to save Carey's life but not his leg. Their friendship remains strong after both get discharged and that's when their story begins. You see, Jase has always loved Carey, but Carey has always been straight until one day he wasn't...

I can't stress enough how dreamy Jase is, outgoing, patient, caring, understanding, supportive. But don't worry, he's not perfect, he has his bad sides too.

On the other hand, Carey is quiet, serious, stubborn and set on his ways. He struggles a lot with accepting things how they are instead of how he thinks they should be. I totally understand him, though. He has his mind set on how his life should look like, he has expectations for himself and thinks marrying a woman and having a conventional relationship and family is what's right for him.

I know what you are thinking "argh, another closet case. He's going to be hot and cold and in denial until the very end". Well, there's a little bit of that, but honestly, most of the book is about Carey and Jase building this new relationship between them. And there's plenty of hot, caring, loving times.   

It's an extremely well done GFY, I'll tell you that. The sex is smoking hot and the transition from friendship to love is delicious.

I'm not gonna lie, though. I felt strong urges to shake the hell out of Carey sometimes.

I really love their background and how that impact their personalities and choices, it made the character have more depth. You see, Carey frustrated me, but I could understand him. He's a foster care kid, used to care for himself and not share his burdens, feelings and thoughts with anyone. So yeah, I could totally see why he acted the way he did. Same goes for Jase, he's open and caring because he had a good structure growing up, a close family, caring and understanding. So he put himself out there with more ease than Carey.

I loved them both together and as individuals, loved the sided characters too, and absolutely adored this story.

While I was reading, Oceans by Seafret began playing and became my own soundtrack for this book. There's so much longing and love in this song that fits perfectly with the story.

Good read for you, guys.